Mailing blank or sheet



A. w. HARRISON.

MAILING BLANK 0R SHEET. `APPLICATION FILED NOV. 24, i917.

1,405,131. f Patented Jan.31,1922. y ,Egg/.4.

aff/cf srl/5 ASTITE/YEIW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR W. HARRISON, 0F WINTHROP, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF TOHERBERT OpFARRINGTON, 0F KITTERY, MAINE.

MAILING BLANK OR SHEET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 31, 1922.

Application filed November 24, 1917. Serial No. 203,705.

To @ZZ whom e'z may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR IV. HARRrsox, a citizen of the United States,and resident of lVinthrop, in the county of Suifolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMailing Blanks or Sheets, of which the following' is a specification.

This invention relates to mailing sheets or blanks of the type explainedin appl-ication No. l-l-ll filed Jan. 26, 1917 by H. O. Farrington, andconsists in the improvements upon, or t-he carrying forward of, theinvention claimed in said application, substantially as hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a plan view of a sheet having a form or shape suitable foruse when writing a letter with a typewriting machine, with or withoutacarbon copy.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a sheet suitable for use as a bill orstatement, with flaps which serve for the double purpose of stubs andend closing flaps.

Figure 3 is a plan view of substantially the Fig. l form, partly foldedup and with an enclosure which may be a folded return envelope.

Figure 4 is a face view of the Figure l form after it has been folded upand sent through the mail.

Figure 5 is a view from the opposite side, illustrating the two endflaps tucked in differently as hereinafter explained. l

The sheet shownvin Figure l comprises a rectangular central or bodyportion a having a window b, by which I mean an opening, protected ornot by a translucent or transparent strip or an area of the paper whichis so treated as tol be sufficiently transparent to permit an address tobe read through it. The portion a has two opposite end Haps c, d, andtwo other opposite aps e, f, which I refer to as the top and bottomflaps respectively, for the reasons presently7 described. Said flaps arepreferably made readily foldable by the user by means of creasesindicated by the four fine lines which indicate the margins of thesection a. Every flap is of less area than section a. so that no flapneeds to be doubled or folded upon itself, and two of the flaps (theflaps c and d in the Figure l form) are of less width than the distancefrom the crease .connected to the backs of is treated to render it moreopaque as here# inafter described. Said address indication is so locatedupon the flap which bears it as to register with the window b when saidflap is folded.

The flap j' is weakened near its outer edge,-

as by one or two lines of perforations indicated at z, and the narrowspace between said line or lines andthe edge of the flap is preferablyrendered adhesive as by such gum as is used on the sealing flaps ofenvelopes. Such line of gum is indicated at t'. Obviously, when suchsheets are to be folded by a machine having means for applying anadhesive to the edge of the flap f, the gum z' may be omitted.

vhile the entire surface of the sheet, including theaps (above line laand excluding the window and the address space) might be used to bear acommunication', particularly if it is a printed advertisement orcircular, I will describe the use of the Figure l form for a letterwritten with a typewriting machine.

The sheet is started with the straight upper edge of top flap e leadingunder the platen of the machine, and a carbon sheet and copy sheetemployed at the same time, the same as with any letter to be typed. Ofcourse, the space above the address indication g may be occupied by theusual printed matter of the users letter heads. The address is writtenin the space g, the date being either above or below that space. Thenthe letter can proceed over portion and as far down flap f as desired.

'hen the' letter is lto be folded up and sealed. top iap e is foldedfirst, then iaps c and (I and finally bottom flap f is folded andsealed. the portion z' being dhesively all three of the other flaps, aswill be readilyunderstood by referring to Figure 5 and imagining thatflap (Z of that figure extended the same als flap c instead of underflap e. The reason for showing Hap (Z as'it is in Figure 5 'is toillustrate how one of the end flaps (or both end naps for that matter)might be left so 110 it can be drawn out for examination when thecommunication is a printed one and mailed under 1 lcent postage. Ineither event, the sheet can not be folded wrong and sealed, becausethere is but one line of m and the Hap bearing it must therefore befolded last. This is important in connection with the rip line h becauseafter the recipient opens the communication at 7L the sheet can bereadily unfolded to expose the entire inner surface of the sheet intactexcepting for the narrow portion z' which would now be stuck to the backof flap e. If the folding has been done as shown at the left in Fig. 5,the said narrow portion connects flaps e and c but can readily be torntransversely.

To facilitate such transverse tearing when the order of folding has beensuch that flaps c and d are sealed in between flaps e and f, the sealingstrip formed by the edge portionof iap f may be transversely weakened asindicated at h' in Fig. 5.

After the article has been unfolded, the iaps c, d, can readily be tornoff to facilitate filing the remainder which always bears theidentifying post-mark on its back. Of course the opening of thecommunication mag be effected byrunning a knife or opener un er the flapf close to the sealed portion i, or liftin one end ofthe strip betweenthe two wea ened lines h and removing said strip, or tearing by means ofa rip string previously located 'along line h similar to the well-knownrip-string envelopes.

If the paper is of a. rat-her thin variety, it is desirable that theportion which is t-o be written upon shall be tinted or otherwisetreated to be rendered more opaque, leaving the address receiving spaceuntreated. This not only defines such space but also obstructs readingwhat is written whenvthe letter has been folded and sealed and isexamined from the outside.

As shown in Figure 1 the window I) is near the top of the centralportion a, and the address space g is correspondingly near the bottom ofiap e, This is important for two v reasons` viz: it provides room forquite an extended letter uninterruptedly from the window down to therupture line h, and it also meets the postal regulations regardingwindow envelopes which necessitate the window of an ordinary Asizeenvelope being much nearer the lower edge than the upper edge of theenvelope. Of course it will be readily understood that the line whichindicates the crease between portion a and flap e in Fig.- 1 defines thelower edge of the article as it appears in Fig. 4.

In Fig. 3 I have indicated a folded enclosure, which may be a. returnenvelope.

' Said enclosure is represented as folded along its mid-width, with oneportion lying under the inturned aps c, d, and the other nor to use forletter writing or advertisements. In Fig. 2 I show a form suitable forbills or statements, with two of the flaps. providing stubs tocorrespond with the statement. The central or body portion a having thewindow b is printed in the form of a statement, for instance a telephonebill. One end flap provides a section c and a section c2k partiallydivided by 'a weakened line c3. The other end iap d carries theaddress-indication g adapted to register with window b when folded over.Of the other two iaps e', f', either one may be gummed at z" andweakened at it.

The central portion a and the fiap portion c2 have address spaces inalinement with f window b and with the address space g on flap d so thatthe sheet can be run through the usual addressing machine in thesamemanner now employed for printing the subscribers name and address inthree places, on the statement and on the oiiice stub and on the stubwhich goes to the subscriber with the statement. IYhen the name has beenprinted as indicated in Fig. 2, and the forms on the statement and stubshave been filled in, the oiice stub c2 is detached for filing, and thenthe sections or flaps c', d', are folded, then flaps e, and f arefolded, and

the communication is then sealed by the,

gummed strip i. all substantially as same as described in connectionwith the Fig. l form.

The recipient will open the communication in the manner alreadydescribed, and can readily detach the flaps e f if the statement is tobe filed away. One` or both of said flaps may be employed to conveyinstructions, or information such as toll charges, to the subscriber.

Either form of sheet, when folded, looks like an ordinary envelope, eachedge presenting but a single fold, and presenting no more of a slit oropening to catch upon other mail matter than is present in many kinds ofenvelopes in common use.

The mailing sheet as a whole is so formed, and the address-receivingindication g and the window b are so located relatively to each other,that the user can not so fold the sheet as to result in covering anypart of the space wit-hin the indication; and the For some purposes, Ido not limit myself to the use of an adhesive for securing the foldedsheet, as any other known equivalent means for effecting such result maybe elnployed.

Having now described my invention I claim 1. A combined bill orstatement and stub adapted lto be mailed without an enclosing envelope,comprisingy a sheet consisting of a rectangular body portion havingflaps eX- tending from its margins, saidibody portion having a windowand bearing a bill or statement forni, one of the flaps bearing acorresponding stub form, one of the flaps having an address spacelocated to register with said window when said Hap is folded onto thebody portion, and one of the flaps having a sealing portion.

2. A combined bill or statement and stub adapted to be mailed without anenclosing envelope, comprising a sheet consisting of a rectangular bodyportion having flaps extending from its margins, said body portionhaving a window and bearing a bill or statement form, one of-the flapsbeing transversely weakened to divideit into inner and outer sections,the outer section bearing a stub form, one of the flaps having anaddress spa-ce located to register with said window when said flap isfolded onto the body portion, and one of the flaps having a sealingportion. v

3. A combined bill or statement and stub adapted to be mailed without anenclosing envelope, comprising a sheet consisting of a rectangular bodyportion having flaps extending from its margins, said'body portionhaving a window and bearing a bill or statement form, one of the flapsbearing a corresponding stub form and having an address space toregister with said window "when said flap is folded upon the bodyportion, the said body portion having an address space in alinement withthe address space of said stub.

4. A combined bill or statement and stub.

adapted to be mailed without an enclosing envelope, comprising a sheetconsisting of a rectangular body port-ion having top, bottom and endflaps, said body portion having a window and form, the end flaps bearingcorresponding stub forms, one of said end flaps being transverselyweakened to divide it into inner and outer sections, both of said endflaps and the body portion having address spaces in alinement with saidwindow, the top and bottomflaps being adapted to overlap and confine theend aps.

5. A mailing sheet having four creased lines relatively arranged toprovide a central rectangular port-ion, a top flap, a bottom flap andtwo end flaps, the top and bottom flaps having substantially straightparallel edges one of which is gummed entirely across andV all otherliaps being ungummed and each flap being of less area than the centralportion, whereby liability ofincorrect order of folding and sealing isavoided, the gummed Hap edge being of a length to be adhesivelyconnected to all three of the other flaps, the said sheet having at oneside of one of its crease lines a window located to register with anaddress borne by a portion of the sheet at the other side of said creaseline when the sheet is folded on said line, the lateral dimensions beingless than the distance ARTHUR W. HARRISON.

bearing a bill or statementv of the end lfiapsy from their crease linesto the ends of the window to avoid lia-f

